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“When you’re talking about greatness, and when you’re talking about greatness for the 21st century specifically, no one has a longer or fuller track record than Beyoncé.”
That’s how Billboard announced the musical icon as the greatest pop star of the 21st century this week. The declaration came on the heels of the publication announcing its runner-up pick, Taylor Swift, who earned the No. 2 spot for catapulting modern pop stardom to heights many didn’t think were possible across her 17-year (and counting) career. The contest was close, given Swift’s astronomical album sales, streams and touring numbers, but in the end, Billboard explained that Beyoncé topped the list “based on her full 25 years of influence, evolution and impact.”
Of course, the result didn’t sit well with Swifties, who argued that their idol’s accomplishments could’ve satisfied Billboard’s top-spot criteria. And it didn’t take long for members of the Bey Hive to chime in with their own retorts to defend their Queen Bey.
For weeks, the two fan bases had speculated about the music outlet’s hotly anticipated rankings, reigniting the tiresome debate that pits the superstars’ legacies against each other. The discussion hit a fever pitch last year while Beyoncé and Swift were both riding high on their economy-boosting international concert runs (Renaissance and the Eras Tour, respectively), which, according to Pollstar, were the two highest-grossing tours of 2023. And the discourse was reignited after the tours hit the big screen last fall, despite the two singers supporting one another at their Hollywood premieres.
That should’ve been enough to end all catty chatter among fans. But after Billboard’s rankings, now feels like as good a time as any to retire the Beyoncé vs. Taylor Swift argument that’s way past running its course.
Yes, it’s easy to compare the two global juggernauts when none of their peers have reached the same level of cultural dominance in this century. In nearly any arena that matters for pop stars — historic music sales, record-breaking numbers, awards acclaim, etc. — Swift and Beyoncé almost always lead the pack. However, contrary to what stan culture believes, numerous instances prove that Swift and Beyoncé are incomparable in the lanes that make them all-time greats.
Swift’s unequivocally sharp pen has made her one of the most illustrious songwriters of her time, which she demonstrates time and time again with every chart-topping album she releases. Her successful crossover from country to pop superstardom proved her talents were as boundless as her ambitions, charting a path to hit-making, award-winning success. To this day, Swift, according to Forbes, is the only woman in music to build a billion-dollar fortune solely from her musicianship. Even with a later start in the millennium, she’s achieved what many in the pop world can only dream of.
Over the last 20-plus years, Beyoncé, meanwhile, has far exceeded what anyone could’ve expected from the former frontwoman of a ’90s and early aughts girl group, Destiny’s Child (one of the most successful in history). Her talents aren’t limited to music — her roles in films like “Dreamgirls” and “Cadillac Records” have proven that. But as many well know, Beyoncé’s name will be forever etched in the history books for consistently raising the bar for musical excellence (live performances, outstanding visuals, genre-bending projects, you name it), no matter the genre. Her ability to disrupt industry conventions has inspired many, including Swift, to be originators in their own right. But what truly sets the legend apart from Swift and everyone else is that she’s remained the standard of pop stardom for decades and is still reaching above and beyond to cement her legacy.
It does us all a disservice to try and assert why Beyoncé and Swift are better than one another when they’re two vastly different symbols of greatness. Where one dominates with statistics and chart numbers, the other has had an immeasurable cultural impact. But as with many polarising conversations about music, it’s more fun to fuel a narrative that keeps these two icons in constant competition, even when they oppose it.
Swift said it best in her 2023 Time Person of the Year profile: “Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”
The media and stans will likely cash in on that discourse again for the 2025 Grammy Awards — where Swift and Beyoncé are both nominated for record, song and album of the year — but don’t count on the pop stars to feed the frenzy.
As history has shown, Swift and Beyoncé have held nothing but reverence for each other’s work over time. Last year, in an Instagram post, Swift praised her contemporary for being “a guiding light throughout my career” who’s also “taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms.” Beyoncé was just as generous with her words years prior when she held space for Swift to finish her acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards — where Kanye West infamously interrupted Swift to argue that Beyoncé should’ve won instead.
Even when people expect Swift and Beyoncé to pick sides against each other, they show that they know better than to entertain such negativity — it’s served their groundbreaking legacies well. When will fans finally learn to do the same?
